Hardware Capable of Conjuring Dreams
by robot-keayleuu
Summary: Whilst working undercover as a mechanic in Kuat, Luke meets a mysterious man called Clancy who has a strange obsession with life and death. As Luke tries to understand Clancy and the two of them draw closer, he becomes increasingly involved in Clancy's dark obsession and Luke finds himself unable to answer Clancy's most desperate question: just what does it mean to be a person?
1. Prelude

**Hardware Capable of Conjuring Dreams (Lacks the Software Suitable for Sleeping with Them) by robot-keayleuu:**

UMBER thank-you to Talicor for letting me use her OC! The main character of this story (Clancy) belongs completely to her and made his first appearance in her fiction: 'Light Amongst the Shadows' (ID: 9767035) Go read that awesome story!

This story is a psychological horror and contains disturbing content for real, guys: Clancy gets pretty frightening.

(keayleuu will place warnings at the **bottom **of each chapter when things begin to get worse)

Anyway, thank you to her for letting me beat and destroy her OC, and for in turn letting me let her OC beat and destroy other things. (including my homework schedule, humm :D)

* * *

I recall the sun shining down on the sand.

It was a place far from paradise: hot, uncomfortable and grainy, but now that I remember it, it was everything I'd wanted. How good it was to feel the sun blaze on my back-how good to have a friend: to be healthy, laugh and run.

'Cut it out!' I'd complained. 'You're going off the track! If you cheat then it won't count as a win!'

'I can beat you!' The other laughed. 'I know it, I'm much faster!'

We used to play together all the time-he and I would always race, always running toward the horizon. Back then, I had a different name; back then I bore the face of someone else. After that short period, I disappeared: he wouldn't see me again… at least, not the me that existed in that time.

Somehow, I found myself trapped in a dark place; somehow I found that I'd turned into someone strange. Desperately, I wanted him-I wanted to do everything it took in order to find the boy I'd known so well, referring to both him and I. But he wasn't there when I returned and in fact, neither was I completely. Resigned, I sunk into what remained of myself, fearing I were flaking away. It was during that time when I found him again.

The galaxy is strange how it takes away something precious and then dangles it before you on a thread, isn't it?


	2. I'm so overt, I'm covert

It's funny how one day you feel okay, and the next you seem to be slipping. It's like you don't even feel the flood of emotions coming-they just envelop you silently, turning your world into darkness.

Luke Skywalker didn't plan to attend the mission to the Kuat Drive Yards, but unfortunately being a Jedi seemed to compensate for everything.

Jedi Luke, please attend this mission-

Jedi Luke, please give your regards to this person-

Jedi Luke, please give your consent-

The requests seemed to be endless. No one seemed concerned that Luke wasn't even a fully trained Jedi, because he'd surpassed the point of being a person-he'd become a symbol.

Luke awoke in his quarters and rubbed his eyes, blinking to disperse the colours and stars that had gathered on the ceiling, mimicking that of the starry sky beyond the meters of metal above his head. His most recent mission had landed him in a rather comfortable situation, in a rather uncomfortable place.

Luke had been chosen to observe the Kuat Drive Yards and gather Data on a rumour of the Empire's latest weapon: a super star destroyer. He would do this by pretending to be a mechanic and hiding in plain sight-so far it had worked pretty well. He'd cut his hair to fit in with the imperials and even adapted to their regime: it was all pretty simple when you moulded your life around their bells. Work, eat, sleep: rinse and repeat.

For the three days he'd spent in the Imperial dominated section of the Kuat Drive Yards thus far, Luke's life had been pretty simple. He'd passed the basic training tests for mechanics with flying colours, and was quickly assigned his own proportion of a hangar bay. Ships came and went, and it was Luke's job to patch them up between that interlude-for three days this was how he passed his time, content with the ease and simplicity of his mission.

It was the fourth day when trouble would present itself to Luke, in the form of a young man with dirt hair and emerald eyes.

* * *

After his morning shower Luke dressed himself in his mechanic overalls and stepped out of his sleeping cell. As he walked from the quarter floor towards the hangar bay he felt lost in the crowds of people, as though submerged in a sea of faces and blue overals, blurred outlines, colours and motions-

'Hey! Hey, you!'

The voice was gentle yet held a degree of fallacy: it was warm-surprisingly warm, and when he spun around, Luke was met with a smile. It was then he saw the person's eyes and felt suddenly cold, as though a fly caught in a spiders web. He wanted to turn back around and run, but his feet seemed frozen to the tiles-

'You alright? You're looking kinda pale, there…'

Luke blushed-if he was pale before then he wasn't pale now. Fiercely, he shook his head: determined not to show fear toward this mysterious individual.

'I'm fine,' Luke murmured: if he could help it, he didn't want to share his thoughts- even less associate with Imperial troopers. Making friends had both crossed and been crossed out in his mind.

'Heh-you certainly don't look fine. I'm betting you haven't even eaten breakfast this morning! It's the most important meal of the day, you know? C'mon-you're eating with me.'

Before he could protest, the man grabbed his arm and dragged Luke towards the cafeteria.

* * *

'I'm Clancy,' the unfamiliar Imperial said, as he handed Luke a lunch tray.

'Uh, thanks.' Luke acknowledged. _Because I could never have managed to reach down and get that by myself. _'But you don't have one-don't you want to eat?'

'I'm in a different division-I don't eat this food. You go ahead: I'll sit and watch.'

_I'm sure that won't be creepy at all._ Luke shifted on the spot little. 'I'm Lu-umm… Annakin, by the way,' he corrected, remembering his alias. (Annakin Lars was the alias Luke had used to register himself as a citizen in Kuat.) He craned his head to look down the breakfast queue-it would be a while before he got served, and he wasn't very good at small talk.

'I know,' Clancy said, and Luke smiled at him uncertainly.

'What do you mean, you know?' He tried to fake a laugh, but it seemed to catch in his throat. 'How could you know-this is the first time we've met.'

'Because I've already looked into your records. Annakin Lars: Tatooine, Outer Rim. Male, joined three days ago, self-trained mechanic who gained a perfect score on the induction test. Height: 1.72m. Weight: 77 kg. Shoe size-*****'

'Why did you look that up?' Luke asked, quietly.

'Does it matter?' Clancy laughed. He stepped closer to Luke and became suddenly serious. 'But why did you choose that name?'

'What do you mean?' Luke stammered. 'My name is mine, I-I was given it at birth…' Had he been discovered? Was it possible that someone he'd never met was able to see right through him?

'You're him, aren't you? You're really… Anna.'

_Anna?_ Luke blushed. 'I have absolutely no idea who you're talking about. Please move aside.' Frowning to himself, Luke moved forward in the line, trying to push both Clancy and the thought of Clancy from his mind. It was easier said than done-even after pushing past, the other man stepped in front of him again.

'Get out of my way,' Luke said: harshly, now. He was shorter than Clancy by at least a head, but the man had made Luke feel so threatened that his body had demanded he stand his ground.

'Don't raise your voice.' Clancy's tone was soft. 'I just asked you a question-sorry if it made you uncomfortable.' He took a step back and shrugged apologetically. 'I was just trying to… I didn't mean to freak you out. You were on your own yesterday and the day before that, so I thought you might need some help getting around. I thought that if I researched you first, I'd know where to start getting to know you. I just wanted to make the right impression-that's all I was trying to do.'

It was then Luke felt a surge of guilt. For the first time in three days he smiled at Clancy-with that smile came realisation, then with the realisation came sadness. Then the smile disappeared.

'You don't have any friends here, do you?'

Clancy shook his head.

'How long have you been here?'

'A while.'

'How long is a while?'

'A while.'

'Okay.' Luke decided to drop that one. 'How come you've never made any friends?'

Clancy smiled, widely. 'Because everyone in this galaxy is worthless, and I'd kill them all them if I had the chance. They're like animals-I hate their stupid flesh, and I hate their complicated brains that hold only simple capabilities. You were the only person I was interested in, Anna-I was waiting for someone who understood what it's like. And you're here now-I'm happy.'

He took a step forward and suddenly grabbed Luke's arm.

'Don't ever speak to anyone else. Don't talk to any of the other Imperials, or any of the people here at Kuat. Stay close to me: Anna. Don't listen to a word they say. Promise me you won't believe in their words-promise me you'll always trust in what I say.'

_Anna-he's using that name again._ Luke found himself breathing a little more heavily as he tried to twist free from Clancy's grasp. The breakfast tray fell to the floor and several people turned their heads.

'Stop calling me Anna!' Luke flushed angrily. 'Clancy, let… let me go. Your nails are digging into my arm and it hurts…'

With those words, Clancy's grip seemed to tighten until Luke's voice was reduced to a plea.

'Stop it-stop it! You're bruising my arm… I don't want to hurt you…'

Luke could feel Clancy's nails pinching him through his overall sleeve, and his skin begun to burn, becoming numb with the pain. He wretched his arm free from Clancy's grasp and shoved Clancy back several steps before taking off down the corridor.

'Where are you going?'

'Away from you- leave me alone!'

'Anna-Anna, I didn't mean-'

'Go away!'

Luke took of down the corridor and ran until he was breathless- refusing to look back- fearing that Clancy would be behind him.

* * *

It took several hours for the experience in the cafeteria to settle in Luke's brain. After stopping in the hallway, he realised he didn't have any work for a while, and-unwilling to be left alone with his thoughts-Luke had travelled to the craft department and begun to shape pieces of metal into ship parts. This wasn't his job but nobody complained at the help; he'd climbed a ladder into a literal hole in the ground (where the drill was located) and kept his head down, immersed in his thoughts.

He didn't know what it was, but the force seemed to react strangely to Clancy-it told him that something was very wrong. It wasn't malicious or energetic around him… it was if all the life energy inside of Clancy's soul had been pulled apart and poorly stuck back together, leaving him a malformed creature, confused by its own existence. Luke was considering this when someone called him from above.

'Hey-you okay down there? You die or anything?'

Luke turned off the drill and peered up from the hole, where another man was crouched over the edge, looking down at him.

'Oh, Force-there's another one of you.' The words were out before he could think about them.

'Another one of what?'

'It's nothing-I'm sorry.'

'You're an odd one.'

'I'm sorry.'

'Stop apologising.' The man smiled and offered out his hand. Luke climbed up the ladder and when he got to the top he accepted the hand, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet.

'We're on a break now-didn't you hear the announcement? The freighter we were supposed to be patching bumped into some trouble before it arrived.'

Luke shook his head. 'I must have been using the drill.' When the drill was on he couldn't hear his thoughts, and when he couldn't hear his thoughts, he couldn't be creeped out by Clancy-Luke liked the arrangement. 'And what do you mean by 'before?' So the ship did dock?'

'Dock is one word for it.' The man grinned loosely-there was something attractive about the casualness of his smile. No…. that wasn't it-there was something attractive about the casualness of his smile compared to Clancy's. Luke felt his body relax.

'The word I would have used is splintered-they forgot to change their gear to accommodate with the gravity field. A team are out there now salvaging parts, but we don't have anything else arriving until tomorrow. Looks like we're free for the rest of the day.'

'Awesome.' It wasn't awesome-Luke had no idea what he was going to do with himself. The man had begun walking and without thinking, Luke followed his steps.

'Haven't seen you in this department before- you new here?'

Luke squared his shoulders. 'Yes and no-I got here three days ago, but I'm not stationed in the craft section. My speciality is engines.'

'Ohh, you must be pretty clever. Most of the guys in the engine dept. have twenty years on you.'

As they walked side by side, Luke looked closely at the other man. He was around the same age as Luke with pink eyes and white hair. His fingers were nailless and his skin seemed somewhat translucent-Luke could see the white of bones when he moved his hands.

'I am a person, so don't worry.' The man smiled, reading Luke's expression. 'Well actually, I'm a mutation: when I was in my mother's womb, she was attacked and infected with an alien fluid. It changed the pigments of my body.'

'Oh.' Luke didn't know whether to say 'sorry' or 'cool.' Either way, he liked this man.

'My name's Annakin,' Luke offered to shake hands. The man accepted and supplied his own name.

'I'm Lisan, nice to meet you. There's a small group of us that go around together: we're planning on going to this restaurant in town to pass the time today. It's waayy out there-I mean, they call their food _cuisine_. It's a lot better than that bantha swirl in the cafeteria, too, so what do you say? You in?'

'Sure.' Luke hesitated for a moment. 'Um… will Clancy be coming, too?'

'Clancy?' Lisan stopped walking. His friendly air seemed to freeze over.

'Y-yeah.' Luke was beginning to wish he'd never asked the question. 'He's around our age, so I thought you might know him… he's a mechanic but not in this division, I think. Short brown hair, green eyes? Kind of cold to speak with…'

'Annakin,' Lisan said quietly. 'Don't ask me about Clancy again.'

'But why?'

'Because nothing good is ever associated with that man.'

'Nothing good?' Luke felt a sudden pang of sadness, remembering his earlier conversation with Clancy. _You don't have any friends, do you?_ Luke felt a sense of injustice. 'So you just ignore him?' He demanded to Lisan. 'You don't like him, so you just leave him on his own? It's any wonder he's like he is when everyone treats him that way-'

'Like he is?' The tone was sharp but when Lisan spun around to face Luke, Luke saw that his pink eyes were wide and fearful. 'So you know, then? You've _seen_. You know what it is that Clancy's really like?'

Luke dipped his head, unable to respond.

'I didn't think so.' They stood in silence for a moment. Lisan's expression became pained and he walked slowly closer to Luke, then set a comforting hand on his shoulder.

'Annakin- you seem like a nice person, so let me give you a bit of advice. Don't associate with Clancy. Don't speak to him, don't look at him, don't go anywhere near him. If he talks to you, walk away. If he gives tries to give you something, don't accept. If he delivers you something or leaves it for you, have a droid throw it away. Don't do anything to acknowledge his existence. I won't tell you anything else for now. Come on-we need to move.'

'I talked to him earlier,' Luke frowned at Lisan. 'Please, just tell me why I shouldn't get near him-I need to know. It doesn't have to be a long story: just make it short and simple. Why can't you just tell me right here?'

The question hung in the air for several moments. Lisan dipped his head so that a strand of Luke's blond hair brushed against his cheek, and as he leaned in closer he positioned himself so that his lips were inches from Luke's ear.

'Because he's watching us right now,' Lisan murmured quietly and when Luke spun around, the figure of Clancy stood motionless behind him, his lips parted slightly to shape a single, gentle word:

'Anna,' Clancy breathed, and outstretched a hand to grasp Luke's arm.

* * *

*****=according to wookiepedia. (keayleuu has no idea what he weighs)

**=Lisan is keayleuu's OC, fyi


	3. Who wants to be popular?

'Luke.' Lisan announced, loudly. 'I just remembered: we left your bag in the locker room. Let's go.'

'I don't need-'

'Just GO!' Lisan screamed. He grabbed Luke by the wrist and pulled him down the corridor- the soles of Luke's shoes slapped against the tiles in an effort to keep up with Lisan as they ran.

'This is because you associated with him! This is what happens- he doesn't leave you alone!'

'I'm sorry!' Panic caused Luke's chest to flutter, as though he wanted-needed- to be sick. 'How was I supposed to know?' He glanced back over his shoulder to see that Clancy had begun to follow-his glassy eyes were fixed on Luke, an unreadable expression on his face as he walked.

'Don't look back!' Lisan yelled at Luke. 'Just get to the locker room and grab your bag: we have to make it look as much as possible like we never saw him, do you understand? I'll tell you more about this later! I'm sorry, Annakin… I'm sorry you had to meet him before us.'

* * *

The locker room was dimly lit and the corners of the room were stained by shadows. Lisan waited patiently behind a partition as Luke separated his tools from his workbag to reduce the weight.

'Is he there?'

Luke looked up through his fringe. 'He's there…' he mumbled, trying to avoid meeting the eyes of the silhouette in the doorway.

'Then we'll go out through the back-don't let him see you looking. When we get to the main entrance we'll both be safe-he won't follow us outside the Drive Yards. He's not allowed to go that far.'

So many thoughts were swimming in Luke's head-he felt confused and lethargic, unsure of what to say or do. Lisan took a communicator from the side of the wall, dug a code out of his pocket and begun to press some buttons.

'Who're you calling?' Luke felt a lump rise in his throat.

'Maben-he's someone we can trust. I'm going to get him to pick us up from outside.'

Luke watched Lisan's fingers as they tapped at the keys,

'Lisan… why did-'

'Annakin.' Lisan's eyes met Luke's. 'Will you do something for me?'

'Sure, I-'

'Don't mention Clancy to any of the others.'

Luke would have been more than happy to oblige to his request, but the tone of Lisan's voice held a degree of sharpness. It wasn't a question-it was too blunt for that. It was more like a command-like he wasn't giving Luke a choice.

_Could it be, Lisan, that you're not as soft-spoken as you appear?_ Luke found himself hesitating, eyes lowering as he became more and more sceptical.

'Why?' The question was slightly accusatory.

'Just promise this for me-please, Annakin.'

'Okay, okay: I promise.' Luke crossed his arms over his chest and pouted involuntarily.

'Why're you making that face?'

'It's nothing, I just… I don't know if I can trust you. So many weird things are going on, but you intentionally leave me in the dark... Do you promise that after diner you'll tell me the truth about this?'

'I said I would, didn't I?' He seemed frustrated. 'Just don't mention Clancy to anyone else.'

Luke bit his lip and looked down at his shoes. Suddenly, Luke felt incredibly nauseous-Lisan was now asking of Luke the same thing Clancy had asked him hours before without knowing.

* * *

Maben arrived in his passenger speeder less than thirty standard minutes later. Maben was older than Luke by five years, had smooth, dark skin and a slightly foreboding manor. Luke later discovered that this had come about due to reserve. (Or, as Lisan had put it: 'Maben was naturally quiet')

As they drove to the restaurant, Lisan became the referee who kept the conversation in Maben's ship alive: he talked about holovids and pointed out buildings in town, to which Luke would smile and nod politely, feigning enthusiasm throughout whatever Lisan said. Occasionally Maben would contribute a response, but Luke was very much vacant to whatever it was they said.

Luke didn't know if he was capable of enjoying himself at a restaurant-his responsibilities and anxieties seemed like a paperweight in his stomach. This wasn't surprising when he considered his situation: he'd placed himself directly in the midst of Imperial troopers and made no progress on finding evidence of the rumoured 'super star destroyer.' It didn't exactly help when Lisan had mentioned that Vader was in the middle of a 'vacation' in order to monitor the progress at Kuat-Luke had known this already, of course, but didn't appreciate the repetition. Could he filter out his feelings enough to get down on one knee and bow to his Father's murder? Luke didn't know. As the road ahead of the starscreen stretched on and the ship continued to drive through the town, the weight seemed to become greater, like a wrecking ball crashing through his peace of mind.

When they arrived at a restaurant they found a booth and settled in. There was a brief interlude in which Lisan got up to pay, and Luke was left alone at the table with Maben.

'The food here is good,' Maben told Luke in a soft voice. 'I can see why Lisan would want to show you this place. He's so considerate of others-it's very like him to go all out and book a meal for you at the last minute. He told me to invite a bunch of people so you could meet-I guess he really wants you to be happy here. That's nice.'

'You mean he didn't already plan to come here tonight?' Luke digested the words slowly-surly Maben hadn't heard Lisan right. 'I thought…' Luke frowned. 'Lisan told me earlier that a group of you were coming to this place. I thought I was just tagging along.'

'The first I heard about it was that call from the locker room. Speaking of which, did something happen back there?'

Luke focused on his drink. 'Why do you ask?'

Lisan opened his mouth to respond, but Lisan returned announcing their orders, and none of them mentioned the subject again.

* * *

The rest of the night seemed to progress well: as the minutes progressed and more people arrived, Luke found himself drifting away from Lisan, exchanging conversation with anyone who addressed him. Everyone seemed friendly-they all shook his hand and introduced themselves, but Luke would be damned if he could remember half their names.

'So, Annakin,' begun Eyan-a confident man who'd bought Luke his most recent drink. 'Are you planning on getting an apartment by Kuat? It'll make things so much easier when you get promoted to full time.'

_Sorry chumps, but I don't plan to stick around that long._ 'I'll think about it,' Luke replied, taking a long sip from his drink. _Never going to happen_. Someone else from the crowd spoke up:

'Annakin, your hair is really fair! What system did you say you were from again?'

The discussions continued and Luke begun to feel relaxed. _I'm sitting with my enemies, yet somehow I'm comfortable-I almost feel like I belong. Is it wrong to feel that way?_ Luke pushed around some ice cubes with the end of his straw. He felt guilty about making friends knowing he'd have to abandon them less than three months later-three months was the limit Luke had been given on his mission: if he didn't make progress before then, he'd go back to the alliance announcing his failure.

'Hey, sorry! You okay?' Someone nudged past Luke and pushed their elbow into his arm-Luke found himself staggering several steps backward and dropping his drink of the floor as a burning seized his body. He felt as if his nerves were on fire-as if electricity and freezing water were shooting up through his left arm-

'Yeah, fine.' Luke faked a smile. 'Would... um, would you excuse me? I need to use the bathroom a second.'

Lisan and Maben exchanged a worried glance as Luke slipped away into the back of the restaurant.

* * *

Luke stood before the mirror in the men's toilets and unzipped his overalls enough to pull his left arm free.

There was a purple patch where a bruise had formed and when Luke looked closely he saw marks on his arm-little indentions where fingers had dug into the skin. The skin itself was ripped and tinged red where fabric had rubbed against it and made it sore.

_This is where Clancy grabbed me,_ Luke thought to himself. _Just how strong is he for his nails to cut me though my jumpsuit? Why does it have to hurt now when I'm enjoying myself? Why does he have to be here, even when he isn't-_

'You okay?'

'Y-Yeah!' Surprised, Luke looked up and saw the reflection of Lisan in the mirror behind him. He hadn't heard him enter-how long had Luke been staring at the bruise?

'You don't look okay.' Lisan walked up to the bathroom counter as if walking toward a loved one's grave. He sat himself gently on its surface and then noticed Luke's arm.

'I'm guessing you didn't do that to yourself.'

'He just wouldn't let go…' Luke sat on the counter beside Lisan and pulled his arm back into his sleeve. 'I didn't know what to do when he grabbed me: I wanted to shove him away with all my strength, but he had such a frightened look in his eyes, like a small child clutching at a parent… I thought I was the one who was afraid of him, but now I think about it how can I be sure? He seemed desperately lonely… so lonely it makes me cold to think about it…'

'You feel guilty for eating dinner in an expensive restaurant with your friends whilst Clancy is alone staring at empty halls in the Drive yards.' It was more a statement than a question. 'He chose that fate for himself, Annakin-did you ever consider that maybe that's what Clancy wants?'

'But why-'

'Annakin,' Lisan sighed. 'Please don't do this-please don't ruin the night. I promised I'd tell you about him and I will, but I want to do it at an appropriate time.'

'And when will that be?' Luke pouted at Lisan. 'You act like my life is in danger, yet refuse to tell me a thing!'

'Your life is in danger.'

'Well, exactly! Wait… what do you mean?' Luke felt suddenly cold.

'You have your bag with you, right? Give me your notebook.'

'But why-'

'Just give it to me.'

Luke unzipped his bag and removed his work jotter. He then passed it across to Lisan, who pocketed the book.

'What was the point of that?' Luke demanded.

'You need this book to get your work done, right? What I'm trying to show you is that you can trust me. I won't talk about this with you tonight, so let me have your book and I'll write down all the reasons why you should stay away from Clancy on a page in the back. I'll post it underneath the door to your quarters so it'll be there in the morning when you wake up.'

'That's not what I had in mind!' Luke felt hot. 'We're alone now so tell me, I want to know-'

'And I said later!' Lisan yelled. He stood suddenly as if he had nothing else to say-the dismissal made the blood boil in Luke's veins.

'You're undermining me,' Luke accused, standing up before Lisan. He was shorter than him by quite a bit, but felt no fear for his situation.

'You're treating me like a child because of the things I don't know. You deliberately withhold information from me with the intent to make my life harder; fine! I'll figure it out on my own!' Luke laughed. 'You know, ever since we left the locker room, I've had the feeling you're not so great. You hand-pick your friends and cast others out completely-no person deserves to be treated like the way that you treat Clancy!'

'Clancy isn't a person!'

'You're horrible,' Luke surveyed Lisan with disgust. 'I can't put up with this any more: I've had enough of tonight. Thank you very much for dinner.' Luke dug his wallet out of his pocket and slung his work bag over his shoulder. 'I'll get an air taxi to take me back to the Drive Yards.'

Luke turned to walk away when suddenly someone reached out to grab his arm. In that moment Luke froze-struck by a horrible sense of déjà vu.

'I won't let you,' Lisan said, darkly. His fingers trembled slightly as he clutched at Luke's sleeve. 'I won't let you involve yourself with him-'

'Do you want to bruise me, too?' Luke narrowed his eyes. 'This is exactly what Clancy did-he wanted me to stay, so he grabbed me to try and hold me back. You claim to be better, yet you're just the same as he is.'

Lisan quivered for a moment, and then his grip on Luke softened until his hand dropped away completely. 'I'm not the same. Nowhere near.' He took a moment to collect himself then looked up at Luke.

'Annakin,' Lisan continued. 'If you associate with him, then I can't follow you. When you talk to him you invite him in! If you leave him alone then he'll give up on you, but provoke him and things will just get worse! I'm speaking from experience so please trust me on this-please wait a little longer, please believe in what I say! Stay with him and you'll end up like his last 'friend'-you'll end up regretting ever coming to this place!'

It was meant to be provocative, but Luke had grown sick of cryptic sentence after cryptic sentence. He shrugged his shoulders and left the bathroom, thinking about the rebel alliance and how different life would have been if he'd refused the mission to Kuat. Somehow, he couldn't help but think that if he had, his life would have been better.

* * *

An air taxi carried Luke back to the drive yards within a standard hour. It was beginning to grow late and Luke had a shift tomorrow so headed back to the sleeping quarters, when he met someone along the way.

'Oh… hi!'

Clancy was stood motionless in the hallway, staring at the door to Luke's room.

_How long has he been there? _Luke shivered and then scolded himself for his irrational fear. _Grow up-you're letting Lisan's words get under your skin. If you apologise and talk to him rationally, you'll get to the bottom of this.  
_

'Listen.' Luke fidgeted and forced a small smile. 'I'm really sorry about earlier-I freaked out and embarrassed us both. I know it's hard to make friends when you're shy but I wasn't thinking about that at the time. You startled me, and I overreacted…' he looked up to see if Clancy was listening. It was then he realised the nameplate on his door had disappeared-the plate had been picked away, and there were several hairline scratches on the metal of the door where it should have been.

'Clancy…' Luke swallowed. 'Did you take my nameplate?'

'You like them, don't you?' Clancy stared at Luke. 'The white man and his friends… The ones you were with earlier… '

_The white man?_ 'You mean Lisan?'

'Lisan…' Clancy seemed to be tasting the word. 'So that's what his name is. I'll be able to find his quarters, now-you know they have nameplates on all the doors?'

Luke felt something sink in his chest.

'Look, Clancy… Lisan is a good person. He's nice and he's kind… he just needs to get to know you. He showed me this place that serves really good food… maybe if I introduce you at some point, we could all go out for dinner together one day.'

No muscles moved in Clancy's face.

'Clancy…' Luke rubbed his wrist. 'Why didn't you ever make any friends here?'

'I told you.' Clancy stared at Luke. 'Because I hate everyone around me.'

'No.' Luke shook his head. 'I think you've got it wrong-everyone seems to hate you. I want to know why.'

'I have more friends than Lisan or any of the other people here will ever have,' Clancy walked three steps from Luke and turned so his back was toward him and stopped. 'I don't need humans to tell me that they like me when I have the approval of much greater beings. You should become one of those beings too, Anna-that way we could be friends.'

'Well, that doesn't sound too bad-I'd like to be your friend. What do I have to do to become one of those beings?'

'Oh… you really want to know?'

'I want to know.'

'Well…' Clancy played with his hands. 'It's simple, really-there's not much to it. We can be friends right away if you do one simple thing.'

'And that is?'

Clancy paused. 'Annakin… you have to die.'

Luke swallowed thickly. His heartbeats didn't seem to match his breathing and in that moment he felt displaced, as if floating in water. His thoughts were hazy and the hallway seemed hot-

'Can't I be your friend like this?'

'No-you have to die.'

'I have to die when you stay alive? Do you think that's fair-'

'I'm not alive-I've died inside.'

'Well maybe I'll die inside, too, if it means I can keep my body!' Fear bubbled in Luke's stomach: it was difficult to keep his knees from buckling. He felt uncontrolled, as if the room had begun to spiral-_how can he want to kill me? This guy is out of his mind…_

'You can't,' Clancy whispered. 'You have to die for real.'

'Fuck that!' Luke snapped. He reached into his bag to feel the hilt of his lightsabre-the cold smoothness of the metal had the effect of a talisman. Clancy narrowed his eyes into slits, as if he could read Luke's every action.

'Anna-I know who you are. Who you really are, I mean-not this person you pretend. You're not one of the cattle who work in the drive yards-you're more important than that; I see it just by looking.' Clancy stretched out a hand. 'This is your chance to reach your full potential. I'm taking a risk in just being here now so you have to take a risk, too: come and be like me-I promise it doesn't hurt.'

Luke shook his head from side to side. He knew that when he edged away from Clancy, Clancy followed him-if he could move Clancy away from his door, he could unlock it and slip inside-all he had to do was keep Clancy talking and move enough to put a distance between them.

_Why is someone like this running free around the Drive Yards? _

'I don't know you,' Luke said, calmly. 'I'd never met you until this morning-I don't know if I remind you of someone or if you're just confused but I promise you don't know me. I cross my heart we've never met.'

'You're lying.' Clancy edged away from the door, closer to Luke as he moved. Luke slipped his key out from his bag and clutched it behind his back. 'Or you don't want to remember-maybe your memories been altered. It doesn't matter: we can create new ones.'

'I don't know you.'

'You only think that! Why do you love this galaxy, Anna, when it's filled with so much cruelty? What good is there in this whole universe?' Clancy rasped, angrily. 'When you come into this galaxy you sign a contract to suffer: that's the price of breath, and it only goes up! You can get rid of that-I'm making it easy! You spent so much time dreaming of an escape, of a much better place, yet when it comes you deny it-'

Luke pressed his back against his door and felt around for the keyhole. He passed his key into his other hand and fumbled to slide it into the indention. The door creaked open and Clancy heard the noise. He turned quickly and snapped something at Luke before moving toward him. As fast as he could, Luke slipped inside and hurried to slam the door shut-

-then there was a crunch, like the snapping of branches in a forest.

When Luke realised what had happened he cried out in shock. He pressed his hands over his mouth as he discovered the source of the noise-Clancy had tried to prise back door and one of his hands has been caught when Luke slammed it shut. Clancy's fingers twitched and curled, then his hand went limp, no longer reaching out. Luke opened the door enough to allow the hand to slide away before closing it again and catching his breath.

_I broke his hand, I broke his hand… I didn't mean it, he wouldn't leave me alone-_

Luke peered out of the glass window in his door to see Clancy staring back, his face unreadable. Uncomfortable, Luke pulled across the small curtain, slid off his overalls and climbed into his cot.

As Luke lay there in the dark, he listened to the white noise of the pouring rain outside. He saw the lights of the clock built into the wall, watched as one number moved into the next and listened to himself breathe. Eventually, Luke fell asleep.

When morning came, he awoke to a present.

The small, tile-sized glass window in Luke's door had been smashed, and a single bread roll sat on the floor among the shards. As Luke reached down to take it, he cut his hand on a segment of glass. The roll was soft, as if baked recently and Luke pocketed it, then stepped into the corridor.

Clancy was no longer waiting for him, but Luke had a feeling he'd be back.

SEE YOU AT BREAKFAST

After all-the message scratched into his door said as much.

* * *

**warnings:** explicit language, slight glorification of death


End file.
